The mayoral race: Oona fought hard, but Ken’s brand rules in London

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

The mayoral race has, in many ways, been the ignored sibling of the leadership race. The race to be leader of the Labour Party has overshadow much of the contest and in many ways ensured that the conventional wisdom – that no-one could overhaul Ken’s lead amongst Labour members – was never likely to be disproved.

Labour has been fortunate to see two able and talented candidates in this race, both of whom have – in their own ways – articulated a Labour vision for London that is a compelling and engaging alternative to the laissez-faire free-market mantra of the current mayor.

This race always looked like it was Ken’s for the taking, and in the end that’s the way it worked out. His name and personality are a brand that stretches across the Labour Party in London (and beyond the Labour Party) in a way few other politicians do. London Labour is Ken’s domain, which he proved by gaining the support of most MPs, councillors, AMs, MEPs and trade unions. In a race which was playing second fiddle to bigger, more closely contested race, the level of name recognition that Ken enjoys always looked likely to see him over the line. He didn’t make any mistakes over the course of the race, playing to the electorate expertly at hustings and never seeming anything less than confident. In the end this was rewarded with a huge margin of victory – 68.6% to Oona’s 31.4%.

Oona deserves credit for stepping back into the fray, a decision that can’t have been easy after 2005. I’d expect to see her elected onto the NEC on name recognition alone, but I’d also hope that in the coming years Oona returns to front-line politics again. If there are any seats coming up for selection in London, it’d take a formidable candidate to beat her.

It was good to see Ken this morning drawing the right dividing lines as the contest moves into the next phase, making a real effort to flag up what unites him with Oona and divides them both from Boris. Similarly, it was a real boost to hear Oona’s support for Ken after a tough race that has seen some cutting commentary from both campaign teams. It’s important that we see Oona campaigning hard for Ken now, and prove that Labour are united in London. We don’t exactly need a Unity, New Hampshire moment, but we need to see everyone in London pulling together now for a Labour win in 2012.

As well as unity from the party, what we also need is for Ken’s campaign to become re-invigorated for the fight against Boris. He has two years to attack and probe the weaknesses of an opponent he already knows so well, but we’ll need new policies, new attack lines and a refreshed critique of why Boris is wrong for London. More importantly though, we’ll need to be told why Ken is right for London. He will need to extend his message beyond the good work that he did while Mayor, and tell us what he has planned for London in 2016, not just 2006. Sometimes it felt that Ken’s campaign was looking backwards. Perhaps that was necessary for an internal election, but it would be the wrong strategy for a London-wide race. We’ll need a future vision to match the nostalgia.

Labour has real strengths in London which make the mayoral race a much more appealing prospect than it was in 2008. Ken won’t be trying to shore up a vote sagging under the weight of an unpopular party struggling in mid-term. On the contrary, as cuts bite hard across London, Ken will be in the ideal position to make Boris pay for the Conservative’s actions in government. Labour also controls more councils than in 2008 (including several ‘outer-London’ boroughs) and has more activists on the ground as the party swells in numbers. Of course we shouldn’t be complacent, Boris Johnson is a unique political character who will poll well (like Livingstone he’s likely to perform better than his party) but if Ken can get his message right, then we will have a serious campaign on our hands.

Congratulations to Ken then, commiserations to Oona, and a big round of applause for all of those who worked on the opposing campaigns. Now it’s time to unite behind our candidate, and make sure we take back city hall in 2012 – chanting “Yes we Ken”.